Monday, 4 April 2016

1986: SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS ISSUES 5 - 8 (MARVEL UK)

From April 1986: issues 5-8 of SPIDER-MAN AND ZOIDS, published by the Annex of Ideas: MARVEL UK.

The British Bullpen had clearly paid whatever debt they had with the makers of the SECTAURS toys (although adverts for the toy line continued to appear sporadically throughout the entire run of the title) allowing Marvel to switch the third strip to their first choice (as announced in the final issue of the original Spidey run the previous December) the Fantastic Four.

The FF reprints hailed, I think, from issues 272 and 273 of the American run, an odd superheroes-SF-cowboys amalgam from the John Byrne run. Whether this was a deliberate choice to appease distributors convinced that superheroes wouldn't sell is unclear but its certainly an atypical choice to kick off with. As things turned outt, this was the only run of FF strips to appear.

The free gift attached to the cover of the fifth issue (in addition to the loosely inserted Zoids sticker inside) seems to have varied depending on where the copy was purchased. My copy had a little moulded Spidey which was supposed to sit atop your pencil (by ramming the blunt end up his Spider-butt. Matron!) but I'm pretty sure I saw other copies with another gift attached. Maybe Marvel couldn't secure enough stock to meet the demands of the entire print run...?

SLOW ROBOT

Welcome to STARLOGGED!
It's a repository, and celebration, of Geek Media (mostly print) from the 'Star Age': that pre-millennial period between, roughly, 1972 (the opening of Marvel UK) and 1999 (the release of The Phantom Menace... and the end of innocence). But, of course, we'll bend the rules when we want to.
I only reproduce long out-of-print items for historical reference. I don't include anything that's currently in-print, is likely to be reprinted or otherwise commercially exploited by the copyright holder.
Comments and contributions are most welcome.